(L) Tales of Earthsea (Gedo Senki)

[Sonhex]

A second and more complete trailer is now online (flash though). According to the production diary work is 99.8% complete...

Key animation: completed
Key animation check: completed
Animation: 1,233 (99.8%) cuts
Animation check: 1,223 (98.9%) cuts
Background painting: completed
Effects: 1,191 (96.4%) cuts

...and on target for their projected July release, although no specific date has been announced. Although the image album and soundtrack will be released on July 12.

I found this excellent blog of all things Gedo, it's worth a bookmark if you're keen to follow the lead up to the release.

[Leo_Otaku]

Yay I will buy soundtrack in Japan ^-^

I may be able tosee it in theatres too ^-^

[Sonhex]

Animation work is completed! Here's the stats from Nausicaa.net:

History of production:

Sep 06, 2005: animation production began
Jan 20, 2006: 149 cuts (12%)
Jan 27: 180 cuts (15%)
Feb 03: 230 cuts (19%)
Feb 17: 326 cuts (26%)
Mar 03: 422 cuts (34%)
Mar 10: 481 cuts (39%)
Mar 17: 517 cuts (42%)
Mar 30: 687 cuts (55%)
Apr 7 : 776 cuts (63%)
Apr 17: 844 cuts (68%)
Apr 25: 935 cuts (76%)
May 1 : 997 cuts (81%)
May 8 : 1,056 cuts (85%)
May 15: 1,176 cuts (95%)
May 23: 1,236 cuts (100%)

Animation production length:

Tales from Earthsea: 8 months and 17 days
Howl's Moving Castle: 17 months and 6 days (2/1/2003-7/7/2004)
Spirited Away: 16 months and 26 days (2/1/2000-6/27/2001)

1,236 cuts in 8 months and 17 days! Incredible or alarming, whichever way you look at it it's some feet to deliver a full length animated feature in that time. I suspect plentiful outsourcing is much of the reason for this swift turnaround.

[wao]

I suspect it is also due to the fact that Goro Miyazaki is (I assume) not as picky about how exactly the animation should be done, compared to his father. I remember hearing his father did the storyboards along the way so the rest of the team would have to wait for his latest bit of storyboard before they could do anything, hence why things got slowed down so much.

[wao]

Sorry for bumping this but I am so excited and amazed nobody else seems to have noticed this but, I am almost jumping off my seat now....


ZOMG!!! AKINO ARAI is composing the theme song for Gedo Senki!!!!!!!! I am SO EXCITED I WANT TO HEAR IT NOW. It's a pity she isn't singing it but she is doing the lyrics with the director, and composing it with her longtime partner Hisaaki Hogari who is also teh win and awesome. No, make that teh win and awesome.

This can't be happening! Wow!!! I hope I haven't misunderstood it or gotten old news, because Akino Arai is flatout one of my favourite artistes of all time and I LOVE her stuff. I got it from this site with the description of the Gedo Senki soundtrack and its' there.

*chatters and squeals like a hyper fangirl* !!!!!!!

This must be GREAT for Arai - she's getting some really good publicity now, because when you get to do such a key thing for Ghibli... She's been doing anime songs for so long - but now she gets to reach past the usual circle of anime fans with a Ghibli movie song. How many people are going to buy the soundtrack and the song and all? Even if the movie gets panned people will still watch it because it's Ghibli and if the song is good enough (I have faith it will be, and Aoi Teshima can't be that bad?) people will most probably get the theme song, and it's on the soudntrack too...

Not just the publicity, think about the royalties... I'm so happy that she gets this chance. And that we get to listen to anotehr new song composed by her! (It would be fscking awesome if she did a self-cover of it later on!)


Okay, *takes a deep breath* I'm done fangirling.

EDIT: And yes, I know in my exquisite hyperventliating I probably missed out that some otehr English sites must ahve reported this ages ago, so sue me! I'm going to flap around my hands like a silly chicken anyway.

It is on some French and German sites...

EDIT2: The smart thing is that she's the composer but NOT the performer - from her poitn of view it's a smart thing, because to be the singer of a theme song of a Ghibli thing will give you even more publicity, but that also means that people will start digging up things about you, as that's the life of entertainment news... you become a bigshot singer, you'll usually end up getting some publicity you didn't want. But as the composer, you don't really get that. Which is good because Arai won't get too much publicity, but yet she'll get enough to be noticed by more people (the people who look beyond just the singer of the songs and look at the composer and arranger too), and she'll get the royalties too.

I still do want to hear her voice though - like on an album years later, ala Adesso e Fortuna and Sakasama no Niji and Hoshi no Ame.

[physics223]

LOL, wao ... that's cool.

[DaFool]

Originally Posted by wao

I suspect it is also due to the fact that Goro Miyazaki is (I assume) not as picky about how exactly the animation should be done, compared to his father. I remember hearing his father did the storyboards along the way so the rest of the team would have to wait for his latest bit of storyboard before they could do anything, hence why things got slowed down so much.

I think it was on the ghibli mailing lists, it was mentioned (translated from his journal) that they won't go overboard with animation detail because, being a literature work, the words the characters speak -- the dialogue -- are of utmost importance. They have less incentive to produce 'l33t' animation and backgrounds but instead just produce effective animation.

Also, I agree that Akino Arai being the composer is better for the industry in the long run. A singer's claim to fame is only short and turbulent / intense, but a composer's claim to fame is respectable and everlasting (if the music is good).

[Veritas]

Teru no Uta (song that played in the first trailer) single went on sale on the 7th. Diggin' it.

[raphaël]

OK, I just saw the movie yesterday, and i admit it was much better than I expected. I loved the sets, actually (except the desert in the beginning). The animation is alright (Some scenes are even quite classy and thrilling). So are the actors, though some people won't like every character

I didn't really "dig" the music myself, but again, it's just my opinion.

Then, the story. Well, as someone who didn't read the book, I enjoyed it very much, it's still quite clear, though you feel like they skipped lots and lots of various stuff. Maybe a bit frustrating to know nothing about no one when the movie ends, but hey, I'll just have to read, then.

So in the end, I think this is undoubtely a very good first shot for Miyazaki Junior. He has still much to learn to become as good as his father (C'mon, Howl wasn't that bad! ok, let's put it straight, Gedo Senki is better than Howl. lol), and who knows, maybe that's not what he's aiming at.

Anyways, imho again, that's worth paying the cinema ticket, though I really prefered "Toki wo kakeru shôjo" I saw last week.

I don't want to spoil, plus, everyone knows I'm lazy, so I won't say anything more. ^^

[hooliganj]

Originally Posted by DaFool

I think it was on the ghibli mailing lists, it was mentioned (translated from his journal) that they won't go overboard with animation detail because, being a literature work, the words the characters speak -- the dialogue -- are of utmost importance. They have less incentive to produce 'l33t' animation and backgrounds but instead just produce effective animation.

The Japanese literati seem to suffer from this impression pretty often. Every book I've ever read that comes from there, from Genji Monogatari to Murakami, whether I liked it or not, is dialogue heavy. I think the tendency of Japanese novelists to rely on dialogue over description or prose is part of why manga caught on so well in Japan, since it contains the visual appeal of action and momentum not otherwise available.

That's just specualtion, though. It's not as if I've made any great effort to invest myself in Japanese literature.

Still looking forward to Gedo Senki. Any thoughts on the possibility of subs on the R2 DVD release? I'd like that, but Disney might not approve.

[raphaël]

I just wanted to reassure Dafool and hooliganj. Gedo Senki isn't heavy on dialogues at all.

It's true Japanese novelists tend to rely a lot on those. Though Murakami isn't a good example. It's one of my favorite writer, if not my favorite, but don't forget he's been criticized quite a lot for not writing "real literature", for being a "light novelist", so...

I think Tanizaki, Sôseki and Mishima ( I hate the latter) are much more descriptive in some of their books.

About the subtitles on the DVD, well, it might happen, who knows. Let's pray.

[Leo_Otaku]

I saw it on the 29th when it came out. I have read the books a long time ago but yeah lots is changed. I still really liked it, it was very awesome. I bought a cellphone charm thing i wanted more stuff but I didn't have 30 bucks in cash for the statue. Yeah it was better than Howl, but for books Howl is a better read IMO.

I didn't quite remember the books but I was like OH yeah XD along the way of the movie. I'm not fluent but I could understand the story and mostly what people were saying.

Almost all of the R2 DVDs have english subs actually. They might be better than the R1 subs *shudders at Cat Return's*

[luchamasta]

Watched it... it was good, but not good enough to be released under the Ghibli brand :-P. But it was a nice refresh from the last two "preachy" films by Miyazaki.

[Tancos]

Ursula LeGuin, the author of the Earthsea books, comments on the movie here.

[Edgewalker]

So any new yet about when this comes out on DvD ?

[Veritas]

A few months at least, probably.

[Edgewalker]

I Just thought of something...does Gedo Senki count as licensed or not ?

[NoSanninWa]

US distribution rights are owned by Disney, so yes.

[Lord Raiden]

Yeah, you can count on anything from Ghibli, regardless of what it is, being licenced before it even hits the drawing board thanks to their blanket licencing systems they've setup.

[orion]

Well, if you want to read more about the Disney deal with Studio Ghibli look here. Last update was in 2003.